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Indian Freedom Struggle (1707–1947 A.D.) Santosh Kumar, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 11: India Independent to 1964

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
11.1 A Parliamentary, Secular and Democratic Republic
11.2 Jawahar Lal Nehru’s Vision of a Developed Socialist Society

11.3 Planning and State Controlled Industrialisations
11.4 Summary
11.5 Key-Words
11.6 Review Questions
11.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Discuss the process in the development of a parliamentary, secular and democratic republic.
• Understand the philosophy of Jawaharlal Nehru on the Development of Socialist Society.
• Explain the planning and State Controlled Industrialisations.

Introduction

The years from 1951 to 1964 were those of maturity and achievement. They were also years
marked by high hopes and aspirations, optimism and confidence. Jawaharlal Nehru could declare
in April 1953:
I shall not rest content unless every man, woman and child in the country has a fair deal and has
a minimum standard of living . . . Five or six years is too short a time for judging a nation. Wait
for another ten years and you will see that our Plans will change the entire picture of the country
so completely that the’ world will be amazed.
And reflecting the mood of the country, he wrote in June 1955:
Even though we have a multitude of problems, and difficulties surround us and often appear to
overwhelm, there is the air of hope in this country, a faith in our future and a certain reliance on
the basic principles that have guided us thus far. There is the breath of the dawn, the feeling of the
beginning of a new era in the long and chequered history of India.
These were also the years when India was more or less stable, when its political system took on its
distinct form, the country began to progress in all directions, and above all there was the beginning
of the massive reconstruction of the polity and the economy. People experienced an advance
towards the basic objectives of democracy, civil liberties, secularism, a scientific and international
outlook, economic development and planning, with socialism at the end of the road. There was, of
course, some discontent among the intelligentsia regarding the slow pace of development, especially
with regard to the problems of poverty and employment, and the slow and unsatisfactory progress
of land reforms. Among the several areas of progress and achievement, though marked by certain
weaknesses and limitations, were (a) the consolidation of the nation and the solution of the language
and tribal problems, (b) the initiation of the process of independent and planned economic
development, (c) the evolution of an independent and innovative foreign policy, (d) the initiation

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